Vote And Die
by JPC
Summary: Angel heads to the Hellmouth to protect the demon vote from overzealous Slayers. Spike tags along for the violence. Both are unaware that Dana, Robin Wood and Connor are in town. Illyria, Gunn and Harmony also appear. ConnorDana
1. Slaughter at sunrise

It's seven in the morning on Tuesday, November 2, 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio. A side street on the southern fringe of downtown is quiet and deserted, until a column of sixty demons appears. Some are scary-looking, some bizarre, others just ridiculous. Most are larger than a typical human. All march with purpose. From the roofs of apartment buildings and the levels of a parking garage, people start hurling rocks at them. Many demons duck and put up their hands and paws and for protection. The column stops. Four large demons in front turn around and urge the others to run the gauntlet. With a loud yell, they do this. All of them make it through, save for eleven who were knocked down. One is dead, his skull crushed by a cinder block. They demons make it to the end of the street when a crossbow bolt pierces the chest of one of the four demons in the vanguard. They stop. Out of nowhere, three young women and one young man step in their path. The youngsters are heavily armed with swords, axes and daggers.

"Today's a truce day," the injured demon says, clutching the arrow and snapping off the back end.

"We don't have truce days," Felicia, a tall thin blonde girl with broad shoulders, replies.

"We ain't got weapons. We ain't gonna cause no trouble," a demon in the second row pleads. The four humans don't look too impressive, but the demons clearly respect and fear them.

"You don't need weapons to cause trouble," say Emma, a short, strongly-built Taiwanese-American girl standing to Felicia's right.

"We're only exercising our rights," a regal-looking demon in a long yellow cape with a short stick in his right hand tells them. Connor, who stands to Felicia's left, and Dana, who stands to his right, start laughing wickedly.

"You don't have any rights," Connor spits back. "You're demons." A screaming mob armed with baseball bats and crowbars storms out of the parking garage and attacks the back of the column from the left and the right. The demons in front look alarmed.

"You have the right to remain silent," Dana jokes as Connor and her smirk at each other. "While we kill you." The demons defend themselves as best they can. Connor takes on the regal-looking demon, who puts his stick away and punches Connor's face with a right cross. Connor responds in kind, then adds a left roundhouse kick that sends the demon staggering back. Now he swings the ax in his left hand to the left and the right, beheading two other demons. Dana guts a demon with her dagger and slits another's throat. A demon between them knocks her back with a left jab and grabs Connor's neck with his right hand. Dana takes out a short curved sword and cuts off the demon's right arm. Connor, now freed from the choking, drives his ax deep into the demon's skull. Felicia and Emma kill or drive away the others in the vanguard. The demons flee while the mob dispatches with the wounded and beheads some of the monsters before carrying away their trophies. Eighteen demons are dead. Connor catches his breath and looks at Dana.

"Nice work." Dana smiles. "Ya got some goo on your face." Connor puts his right hand to her left cheek and tries to wipe away the blue demon guts.

"You're messy, too," She puts her right hand to his forehead. They both smile and lean in to kiss. Felicia and Emma giggle and roll their eyes.

"It's a little early for celebration," Robin Wood says as he steps out of his car and walks up to the gang. Connor and Dana turn to see him just before their lips meet.

"You mean there's more, Rob?" Connor asks.

"Tip of the iceberg."

"Rock and roll," Felicia says, getting in the front passenger's seat.

"You're riding? Like a normal?," Connor asks with scorn.

"I'm saving my energy for the fight."

"You too?," Connor asks Dana with disappointment. She sits in the center of the back seat and puts her left hand on the seat next to her, smiling and offering it to Connor. "See you there, slowpokes." Connor takes off. Dana appears disappointed. Connor doesn't like to play footsie and grope just before a fight because it gets him inconveniently excited.

"You don't know where we're going!," Robin shouts out his window.

"Yes he does," Dana replies.

"That's right. He can smell them," Emma notes. She and Felicia cringe. Dana thinks it's kinda cool. Wood floors it and races off to intercept the column he was scouting while the Slayers were fighting.

"Now these ones are real freaks," he tells them. "I couldn't believe it when I saw 'em." About two miles to the northeast, eighty demons march in twenty rows of four, their arms locked in solidarity, as they sing "We Shall Overcome." A crowd of about forty outraged black men and women pelt the demons with bricks and insults. The demons turn the other cheek and continue on, many of them bleeding. Connor dashes up from behind, overtaking the column in a blur of speed. The demons in front halt when they see him before them.

"We shall not fight you," a tall, thin, dignified gray and brown demon tells the boy with the ax.

"Good. That makes my job even easier." A demon eight rows back whispers something about how it's pointless to negotiate with a psychotic. "What was that!?," Connor yells.

"Nothing," the scared demon who made the crack replies. "I-I-I wasn't talking about you."

"Why do you enjoy making others frightened?," the tall demon in front asks Connor in a gentle voice.

"Why you asking me? Ask the demons all around you why they enjoy it?" Connor hears the car approaching. "Time's up," he says with a smile. The three Slayers bound out. Connor backs up to join them. The demons resume singing and marching. The onlookers resume shouting. Wood takes off, to Connor's dismay. The Slayers stand there as the demons approach, not knowing what to do. Felicia and Emma have qualms about massacring demons who don't put up a fight. Dana has similar reservations. However, Connor sees this not as a moral quandary but as a golden opportunity. Dana puts her left hand on his right wrist and makes him lower the ax.

"Okay, so they don't wanna kill people right now. But they will tonight. And tomorrow. And the next night. You don't take 'em out now, you'll be fighting them for months." Connor sighs as his argument fails to sway them and the Slayers back up as the demons approach. "What would Buffy do?," he asks in exasperation. He doesn't know who this "Buffy" is, only that she's revered by the Slayers and presided over a Hellmouth in California that swallowed the town of Sunnydale — one of his first real memories. Dana takes out the scimitar she got from Wood's trunk.

"Kill them all," she declares. Connor's heart flutters. He's not sure why "Kill them all" is such a turn on for him. Dana, who's met Buffy, sees her as a demon killer par excellance, and is unaware of her complicated history with demons. Buffy, meanwhile, has no idea Dana cut the arms off one of those complicated demons.

"Go home, leave these people alone, and we won't hurt you," Emma offers when the demons are six feet in front of them. Connor doesn't understand why she's negotiating with the evil enemy. The demons don't understand why she's telling them to "leave these people alone," since the people are attacking them. The demons keep marching. Connor raises his ax and drives it into a demon's stomach. Even he has reservations about beheading defenseless demons. Now the demon defends himself, knocking Connor down with a right jab. An angry Dana slits his throat. The demons start yelling and a few of them attack as their leader tries in vain to produce calm.

"By any means necessary!," a large demon in the third row yells before bursting out of the column and attacking Connor. A melee ensues. The demons in back get scared. Some of them retreat, only to be cut off by Wood. He presses a button, and out shoot four spikes from under his front bumper, as well as two knives on the sides and several more knives above the back wheel. He guns the engine and plows through the column. The demons scream and leap out of the way while the humans cheer. Several demons receive horrible wounds from his modern-day version of a scythed chariot. Up front, the demons defend themselves, but don't try to hurt the Slayers. But in the thick of a fight, the "good guys" can't tell. Connor and Dana cut a swath of destruction, while Emma and Felicia mostly hold their ground, killing only three demons between them. They get out of Wood's way. He stops before running over the pile of dead demons his fighters have slain and gets out. Connor and Dana run around dispatching the demons who are too injured to flee, to the crowd's delight. Several of the demons appear to be praying while they're slain. Connor thinks they're trying to curse him. When the fight is over, twelve demons lie dead. Wood steps out of his car, and the locals congratulate him on the excellent way he's pimped his ride. Living on the Hellmouth, they honor such demon-killing innovations. He appreciates the accolades, especially coming from his own people. Growing up in Beverly Hills and getting raised by a white Englishman, he heard his share of "sell-out" and "Oreo" insults.

"Is this like some sort of trick?," Emma asks Felicia.

"Hasta be." Felicia is a Sunnydale veteran, so she firmly believes that the only good demon is a dead demon. (Or, in the case of Spike, a demon in the process of committing suicide.) "We got 'em running scared. They can't take us in a fair fight, so they mess with our heads."

"By making us think they've turned the corner?," Emma asks with a smirk. The idea of a demon going good is ludicrous to her. "If you can't beat us - "

"Go to LA!" They both laugh. Connor turns around when he hears his home town mentioned. He's hid large parts of his past, and worries about what would happen if they discovered he's the child of vampires and fathered a goddess who nearly took over the world. Only Dana knows about Quor Toth, but even she's in the dark about what followed.

"Our job's not over," Wood warns them.

"Are we gonna be doing this all day?," Emma whines. They were up late patrolling and got hardly any sleep.

"Just one more. For now. About three miles west of here. I think that's too far even for you, Connor." Dana takes his right hand in her left and leads him towards the car, while Emma argues with Felicia that she should have shotgun because Felicia had it the last time.

"Hey Connor," Robin says just before they get in the car. "Thanks for the heads-up."

"My pleasure."

"Don't know what I would've done without you."

"What the hell were you thinking!?," Angel yells into his cell phone. He's in a hotel room, standing in front of his bed. Spike tries to sleep in the other bed, closer to the window.

"Will you shut the bloody hell up!?"

"Okay. You're right. I'm surprised they'd be out this early as well. But you know I can't help you during the day." Spike gets out of bed, pulls back part of the curtain, and burns Angel with the sun. "Tell them to stay inside. No reprisals. If you kill anyone, I can't help you." Angel hangs up and tosses his phone at Spike's face.

"Hey! Wut wus that for?" Angel points to his scorched shirt. "Sorry. Forgot it wus Armani," Spike replies sarcastically. "You only have six others in the exact same color. Can a bloke get some sleep?"

"They were ambushed."

"A mob?"

"And Slayers."

"At this hour?"

"Someone must have tipped them off."

"So what's the not-so-brilliant plan this time? We keep the Slayers busy while the demons do their civic duty?" Angel pauses.

"Pretty much," he replies defensively.

"Okay." He gets back in bed. "Who knows? Maybe one of the girls knows me from Sunnydale."

"And that would be a good thing?"


	2. A second chance to get Spike

Forty vampires walk down the street in a part of town that's rough even for them. Most of the demons carry weapons: bats, chains, knives, a flail or two. Clearly they're not going to turn the other cheek. In fact, they're out for blood and revenge on behalf of their meeker brethren. Suddenly, a car streaks by on the street in front of them, and two gunmen strafe the demons with semi-automatic fire. Meanwhile, a car stops on the road behind them and cuts them down. The first car was gone a few seconds after it appeared. Several demons run at the second car, but its wheels screech and it races off after hitting all but one of its pursuers. This demon, unable to get a grip, manages only to scratch the paint with his claws. He rushes back to the others. "It's okay. We'll get them come nightfall." The demons open two manhole covers and start evacuating their injured. The demon who was just talking gets a crossbow in the back of the skull. The arrow goes clear through his brain and knocks out his left eyeball, which falls to the ground before he falls dead. They turn to see who fired.

"Slayers!" The uninjured demons think they're numerous enough to stand a chance. "And a boy," he adds contemptuously as Connor, being Connor, leaps into the fray first. One demon tosses an ax for his forehead. Connor grabs it with his right hand, tosses it back and splits the demon's skull in two. Dana's never seen that trick before, and she thinks it's awesome. Wood thinks it would have been better to hang onto the ax. Another demon swings his chains for Connor, who grabs them with his left hand, pulls the demon towards him and chokes him with his own weapon. Dana comes up on Connor's right and starts hacking with a machete. Felicia and Emma are double-teamed, while a less confident demon goes after Wood, who defeats it after some effort. Finding themselves overmatched, the remaining uninjured demons retreat. Connor and the Slayers take out any shooting victims who weren't able to be evacuated. The body count is twelve.

"We kill more demons before nine am than most other people kill in a lifetime," Felicia jokes.

"The voters are safe, the demons are crushed and I'll still make it to school on time," Robin points out contentedly. "You coming?," he asks Felicia.

"Not today."

"Come on," Emma says. "It's better than doing nothing."

"Plus, it's important even for a Slayer to get an education," Wood adds. Felicia laughs.

"You know Emma only goes to meet boys." Wood looks at her.

"And to learn," she weakly offers. Robin doesn't look convinced.

"Look on the bright side, Rob. At least they're human boys," Felicia quips. Emma and Dana don't get it. Connor feels nervous, as if they're sort of talking about him. Wood is not amused, though he knows Felicia makes a good point. Thank Heavens there aren't any more ensouled vampires walking the Earth, seducing lonely Slayers. Connor and Dana start to walk away.

"You want a ride?," Wood asks. "It's on the way. And, ugh, you might draw unwanted attention by carrying those weapons around."

"Who are we here to kill?," Spike asks as they watch "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" on the tele.

"No one."

"Then what's the bloody point?"

"We're getting out the demon vote."

"Demons can vote?"

"If they're citizens."

"And how the bloody hell does a demon get citizenship?"

"By living here for more than fifty consecutive years. Then they're automatically naturalized."

"And why is this so important?"

Angel looks at Spike as if he's being dumber than usual. "Because the Hellmouth happens to be in a swing state. THE swing state. Whoever wins Ohio wins the election. And if it's as close as Florida was four years ago, the demon vote could be decisive."

"So what? Does it really matter who's president?"

"Of course! Especially now."

"Not for me." Spike gets up and walks to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere that's bloody interesting."

"Wait Spike." He stops as he's opening the door. "They'll be fighting. There's a good chance you could die."

"And?"

"And what? Isn't that enough for you?"

"And . . . you can't do it without me?"

"Yes I could."

"Fine." Spike leaves and closes the door. Angel waits ten seconds, then walks over to the door and opens it. Spike's outside, facing the other way.

"It's at least a two person job. And since Illyria's out of contact, and Gunn's busy, and I couldn't find anyone else on such short notice. Spike spins round and hits Angel with a right hook before walking back into the room. "What was that for?"

"I need a reason to hit you? I still don't see why these demons can't defend themselves."

Connor and Dana sit on her couch, making out. He puts his right hand up her shirt. She takes off his shirt. But when Connor tries to put his right hand below her waist, she jumps to the far side of the couch and looks frightened. "I'm sorry. We'll, we'll take it slow."

"I missed you," she says, further confusing him.

"I missed you too."

"I thought college was fun?"

"It is. Sometimes. But it's, ordinary. Everything seems so ordinary. Ever since, ever since I - "

"Came here?," she asks hopefully.

"Yeah," he replies, lying. "I've never met anyone like you, Dana," he adds, telling the truth. She inches back towards him. He puts his left arm around her shoulders, and she rests her head on his.

"You too, Connor. But this is so new. Everything's new."

"Demon fighting?"

"That. Boys. Life without bars." Unlike everyone else, Connor was actually curious about her past, and not at all freaked out. In fact, it seemed to draw him closer to her.

"You mean boy, right?" She smiles.

"You've been gone a long time," she jokes. He knows her well enough to be confident it's a joke.

"I have to leave again tomorrow morning. But don't worry. Winter Break's in like six weeks. And we get a month off. I'll be with my family for Christmas, but I think I can spend a lot of the time with you."

"I'd like that. I'm alone, Connor. Even when I'm with the others, I feel alone. Except when I'm with you." Connor smiles. Dana yawns.

"That's right. You didn't get any sleep last night."

"Neither did you. But you're nocturnal," she jokes, making Connor slightly uneasy. Then she rests her head against his chest and they lie down together on the couch. Connor puts his arms around her, kisses her cheek and they both fall asleep.

The demons converge on an empty parking lot about a quarter-mile from the polling place. All told, there's about seven hundred. "Looks to me like they can defend themselves," Spike tells Angel.

"If they start a riot, it'll completely discredit the whole exercise."

"So we start the riot?"

"There won't be a riot."

"Then what are we trying to prevent?" Angel sighs as Spike looks around at the cornucopia of demons. "I think I thrashed a couple of these blokes before. And I'm pretty sure I shagged that one."

"She's green. And scaly."

"Only on her back. Her front's surprisingly smooth. Oh, look. I think she's recognizing me. Won't this be awkward."

Angel checks his watch. "Polls close in half and hour. We better get a move on."

"About bloody time." Angel lines them up in an organized fashion and gives an uplifting pep talk about freedom and citizenship while Spike yawns and wanders away. As he "scouts" the path they'll travel, Robin Wood – who is on a rooftop with Connor – spots Spike with his binoculars.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. I don't believe it."

"Let me see. I think I know that guy."

"He's a vampire." Connor can tell from the way Wood's acting that this is not just some ordinary vampire.

"The one who killed your mother?"

"I don't understand. He's dead."

"Guess we'll have to make him deader."


	3. The other vampire with a soul?

"Do all these demons live in Cleveland?," Spike asks Angel.

"A lot of them move around but maintain a residence here."

"And by residence, you mean a hole in the ground?"

"A hole in the ground with an address. You can't register without one. But they did bend the rules to let them all vote at the same precinct. That way, they wouldn't scare the humans and freak out the local elementary schools."

"Or eat any of the kiddies while waiting online." Spike starts laughing.

"This is serious business. We're about to face Slayers who will probably try to kill us."

"Because we're escorting demons to a bloody polling place." He laughs some more.

"Four more years of George W. Bush is nothing to laugh about."

"You are such a bleeding heart. Let me guess: you worship the Kennedys. Of course you do: you're Irish!"

"I never worshipped any of them," Angel responds defensively. "Bobby I admired. Jack I had great respect for. Teddy I have some problems with."

"Really? Teddy used to be my favorite. Got away with killing a girl. Knows how to knock a few back and have a good time."

"We're getting close. Keep an eye out for trouble."

"We're marching with seven hundred demons. Trouble is all around us. Oh, you meant keep an eye out for the good guys who want to kill us."

"Misguided good guys we have to set straight." They are within one hundred yards of the door. "I don't see anyone. They must be planning an ambush." Angel checks the rooftops to both sides.

"Connor?," Wood asks as they both look down. "Connor, is something wrong?"

"No," he replies unconvincingly. "Just a lotta demons." What was his father doing here on the side of evil? And why was he chatting casually with an evil Slayer killer? "Tell them don't shoot."

"Why not? We're horribly outnumbered as it is."

"If they fire, the demons could stampede."

"You're right. Given their numbers, better to cut off the head of the column and hope the rest run away." He takes out his cell phone and relays the message to the three crossbow-wielding Slayers who lie on the roof of the polling place. Connor and Wood at to their left and in front of them. The real reason Connor wants them to hold their fire is he's afraid they'll kill Angel.

"Aw nuts," Felicia says, when she gets the warning. "I had a perfect shot at that vampire who looks like Spike." Dana appears just as confused as Connor.

"It's him. With hands. And arms. To hurt me."

"A couple hundred hands and arms," Emma jokes. "So that's what Spike looked like? Interesting."

"He's even got the coat," Felicia adds. "What a copycat." Angel walks over to the line of demons.

"Don't engage the enemy. Avoid them. We'll keep them busy." When they are just thirty feet from the front door, Emma, Felicia and Dana drop down from the roof. Dana lands in front of Spike, while the other two land in front of Angel, who is to Spike's right. The demons are to Angel's right. Spike immediately stops when he sees Dana.

"You've definitely cleaned yourself up. You look good," he nervously says, trying to keep it light. She glares at him.

"Time to cut until you're dust."

"Oh, bloody hell." She charges Spike and knocks him down with a flying right kick to the chest. Spike quickly gets up and blocks two punches. "Do me a favor, pet. No needles this time?" She hits his face with a left roundhouse kick. "Well how about that. You've improved your technique. He lands a left jab. She blocks his right hook. He ducks her right hook and lands a right cross. Dana grimaces.

"You have hands."

"The better to hit you with, my dear." Spike connects with a left uppercut to her stomach and a right jab and right hook to her mouth and cheek. "All that work for nothing."

The demons rush past Emma and Felicia as Angel charges them, hits Emma with a right cross and spins around to nail Felicia with a left hook. "Hello ladies," he says, with Felicia in front of him and Emma behind. "What we have here is a little misunderstanding." Emma takes out her stake and goes for his back. Angel reaches out his right arm, grabs the stake, ducks Felicia's right hook kick, throws Emma into a wall and sweeps Felicia's left leg. "You girls are telegraphing your moves. Classic rookie mistake." Angel ducks Emma's right hook and puts his back to the wall. "A much bigger mistake would be killing me. Buffy would be very upset if that happened." Emma is aghast that a lowly vampire would invoke the Great B. Felicia finds it a little desperate.

"Already begging for your life?," she asks.

"Hardly." Angel repels Emma's attack, then Felicia's.

"So who are you, Mister Namedropper?"

"I'm Angel."

"Doesn't ring a bell," Emma answers before kicking a disappointed Angel in the chest.

"Wait a second. I've heard of you," Felicia announces. Angel smiles. "You're the other vampire with a soul." Angel is understandably outraged.

"Hey, I was the first!"

"And then you went evil."

"Yes. Twice. But not now."

"Which explains why you're running with a horde of demons," Emma adds.

"I can explain."

"Save it." They resume their attacks. While all this was transpiring, Connor leaped off a rooftop and charged the demons from the right. They immediately opened ranks, creating a ten foot-wide gap for Bezerker Boy to run through. When this gap opens, it reveals to Connor Dana fighting Spike. And she's not doing well. Dana was spooked to see a healthy William the Bloody with all his parts. Plus, she's already mentally experienced him killing her twice, which does not help morale. Connor sees the dastardly blonde vampire strike his beloved with right and left fists, hooks and jabs and uppercuts. When Dana tries a right hook, Spike grabs her arms and hurls her through the air.

"Not as easy the second time around," Spike boasts. "Tell you what: how bout we call the whole thing off? No hard feelings, love." Connor comes at Spike from his right, leaping through the air, leaning forward like a missile, and striking with a left cross. Having been completely blind-sided, Spike tumbles down.

"I got a better idea," Connor says. Spike looks up at him.

"Hey. Haven't we met?" Spike's sure he's seen this face before. Now Connor remembers.

"You were the Leather Lady's gimp." Spike shoots to his feet.

"I beg your bloody pardon!"

"And what's with looking like Spike?"

"I AM Spike."

"He is Spike," Dana concurs.

"What? How?" Connor looks at his girlfriend. "Who cares? Let's kill him." The duo goes to work, quickly putting Spike on the defensive, then putting him on the ground. "Show me the face you used to kill Rob's mother. Show me!"

As Wood rushed down a ladder from the roof, he imagined a scene of immense chaos. Instead, when he reached the ground, he found a long line of demons filing into the building in an orderly fashion. They weren't attacking voters. They were voting. Which raised all sorts of questions. Questions about these demons, questions about the electoral system, and questions about Connor. He had to get to his Slayers before they started indiscriminately killing both malicious and benign demons alike, which would make it very difficult for the Council to operate in the Hellmouth. But hundreds of said demons were between him and said Slayers, creating an additional problem. After all, Wood was the one who set mobs upon many of these demons that morning. He hides his face and rushes around the back of the building. When he returns to the front, Emma and Felicia have steadied themselves and made use of their numerical advantage to finally gain the upper hand against Angel. "Stop! Emma, Felicia, stop!" They obey.

"Finally someone sensible," Angel exclaims with relief. He didn't enjoy either getting hit by or hitting these Slayers. Dana tries to stake Spike. He grabs her arm and kicks her away. Connor lands two right hooks and goes for the kill. Spike grabs Connor's left arm, spins him around, holds Connor from behind, and leans his head down as if he's about to bite the lad.

"Dana, stop! Connor, stop!"

"Connor?," Angel asks, seeing his son about to be bit by Spike.

"Back away or the boy dies," Spike threatens.

"You idiot!," Wood yells. "She already backed away. Wait a second. No. It can't be. You're not - "

"Wood?," Spike asks, pushing Connor away and returning to his human face. Spike begins to suspect that Angel has led him into a trap. To him, it looks as if it's six against one.

"Connor, you have a lot of explaining to do," Robin says.

"Me!?," Connor yells, feigning innocence. "What did I do?"


	4. My son's a Republican?

"These demons aren't attacking voters," Wood points out to Connor. "They're voting," he adds with confusion.

"And you think that's okay?"

"I think it's none of my damn business." Connor laughs.

"What about the democratic process?"

"I didn't come to this town to fight voter fraud. Why did you come here?"

"Same reason you did. To kill demons." Several of the demons give Connor angry glances.

"What did we ever do to you," one of them yells.

"And you decided to return on this day, of all days, why," Wood asks.

"Shouldn't you be at Stanford," Angel wonders, making Connor nervous.

"Who the hell are you," Connor asks, feigning ignorance. Angel's also wondering what's going on. Connor's feeding his worst fears. Bored with the proceedings, Dana takes out her stake and charges Spike. He quickly backtracks.

"Hey! Cut that out." She kicks his face. "Robin, will you tell her I'm good?"

"You are," he asks with a smile.

"I saved your bloody life!"

"It's you," Felicia announces with confusion.

"Spike," Emma asks. "I thought he was like vaporized."

"As opposed to actually vaporized," Robin adds, finding unintentional meaning in Emma's teenage syntax. "Why aren't you dead?"

"That's what Dana and me were trying to take care of," Connor points out, glad that the topic has moved away from him for the moment.

"So I guess all that survived in that crater were the cockroaches and you," Wood jokes.

"Yeah, yeah, Spike's alive, big deal," Angel interjects. "Connor, what are you doing here?"

"Shut up, bloodsucker," Connor says, looking at Angel and pleading in a super-quiet whisper "don't do this." The kid's obviously ashamed of his old man.

"The questions just keep piling up when it comes to you," Wood says to Connor. "How do you know our enemies?"

"We're not your enemies," Angel declares. "At least, I'm not. I'm a good guy. A Champion."

"So the bloody hell am I." Wood looks at Spike and raises his eyebrows skeptically.

"There's a title that's lost its distinction."

"Dude, we tried to kill you, and you're protecting demons," Emma points out to Angel. "Maybe you're not our enemy, but you sure ain't our friend."

"Spike, Connor, and umm, what's-your-name – Angel," Wood says, causing Angel to scowl. "Can one of you please give me why you're here tonight?"

"I think that should be obvious, especially to you," Angel says to Wood. "We're protecting voting rights." Robin's smart enough to realize that Angel's implying that he should empathize with the demons because, like black Americans once did, they are facing down murderous mobs to exercise their constitutional rights. It's all Wood can do to not blow his top. After several smoldering seconds of silence, he punches Angel in the nose. "Ow!" Spike laughs and claps.

"If there's anything worse than white liberal guilt, it's undead white liberal guilt." He looks at Connor, who appears nervous. "I think you owe me the truth. After what we've been through, I think you owe me at least that." Angel realizes this man is close to Connor.

"How can you be sure he's telling the truth?"

"Because, it's so stupid and ridiculous, no one would make it up."

"Excuse me," Felicia announces. "If we're not gonna be killing anything more tonight, can me and Em hit the clubs? You know, to, uh, look for vampires," she adds with a smirk.

"Fine. Be back by one." They leave the confusing situation which no longer has anything to do with them.

Angel was there to get out the demon vote in order to help the Democrats. If Connor was there to keep demons from voting, then that meant . . . "Oh no. I don't believe it. I don't believe this. Connor, are you a Republican," he asks with pain in his voice.

"I'm gonna be sick," Wood adds.

"Is that a crime," an outraged Connor demands to know.

"You used us," Wood responds. "You lied to me." He shakes his head in disappointment.

"How can you be a Republican," Angel asks, on the verge of tears.

"Why the bloody hell do you care so much about this kid," Spike asks. "So he came by the office once. You're treating him like he's your bloody son." Connor cringes.

"Yeah, why do you care," Robin asks, uneasy about being in agreement with Spike.

"It's Wolfram & Hart. They programmed you to be a Republican. They are evil."

"Republican's aren't evil."

"I didn't say they were."

"I'm a Republican."

"Stop saying that."

"So that means, in your mind, I'm evil."

"No," Angel screams, having a bad flashback to the scene in the sporting goods store before he gave Connor his new life. "But Bush doesn't even live in a reality-based world."

"Neither do I. Thanks to you."

"Connor, how do you know this vampire," Wood asks.

"He's my son."

"Dammit," Connor yells. "Dad, how could you," he adds, further blowing his cover. Dana looks at Connor for a few seconds, then runs away. "Dana, wait!" He races after his girlfriend, leaving Wood alone with Angel and Spike.

"His father's a vampire," Wood says to himself. "That would explain a lot."

"No it doesn't," Spike dissents. "Angel, how the bloody hell could you have a son? You can barely even have sex."

"Okay, that raises a lot of questions I really don't want answered," Robin replies, not eager to delve into Angel's sex life. At least he still has no idea about Angel and Buffy.

"Hey Robin," Spike yells after Wood turns around. "You better not send any more Slayers after me. Remember wut Buffy said: try to kill me again, and I get to kill you."

"You're not worth their time." Wood says before walking away.

"Buffy would never say that," Angel tells Spike.

"You really don't know her anymore," Spike responds self-servingly. "And apparently, she doesn't know you."


End file.
